Knitting prayer shawls is a growing trend in churches, that is picking up as more young women (and men) start to pick up needles. I thought a site that has lovely, easy patterns would be a good idea.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Anna Baltzer Wings of Peace

The next shawl, which I'm designing now, will be called the Anna Baltzer Wings of Peace Shawl. It's going to look like the outstretched wings of a... hmmm... dove? angel? condor? firebird? I guess you can decide.

Nearly every culture I know prophesies that in the late 1990's we entered a period of remarkable transition. At monasteries in the Himalayas, ceremonial sites in Indonesia, and indigenous reservations in North America, from the depths of the Amazon to the peaks of the Andes, and into the ancient Mayan cities of Central America, I have heard that ours is a special moment in human history, and that each of us was born at this time because we have a mission to accomplish.

The titles and the words of the prophecies differ slightly. They tell variously of a New Age, the Third Millennium, the Age of Aquarius, the Beginning of the Fifth Sun, or the end of old calendars and the commencement of new ones. Despite the varying terminologies, however, they have a great deal in common, and “The Prophecy of the Condor and Eagle” is typical. It states that back in the mists of history, human societies divided and took different paths: that of the condor (representing the heart, intuitive and mystical) and that of the eagle (representing the brain, rational and material). In the 1490's, the prophecy said, the two paths would converge and the eagle would drive the condor to the verge of extinction. Then, five hundred years later, in the 1990's a new epoch would begin, one in which the condor and the eagle will have the opportunity to reunite and fly together in the same sky, along the same path. If the condor and eagle accept this opportunity, they will create a most remarkable offspring, unlike any seen before.

“The Prophecy of the Condor and Eagle” can be taken at many levels — the standard interpretation is that it foretells the sharing of indigenous knowledge with the technologies of science, the balancing of yin and yang, and the bridging of northern and southern cultures. However, most powerful is the message it offers about consciousness; it says the we have entered a time when we can benefit from the many diverse ways of seeing ourselves and the world, and that we can use these as a springboard to higher levels of awareness. As human beings we can truly wake up and evolve into a more conscious species.

1 comment:

I have accidentally found this knitting site and only clicked on this link because I saw Dorothy Day's name. Consequently, I continued to read this one. Because I am not a knitted of this caliber, is it possible to order a Dorothy Day Shawl and contribute the cost to the maker with extra for a donation? Thank you and let me say I am grateful to have found this site.